PUNK ROCK NIGHT

CAT VALLEY 8:30-10PM

WEEP WAVE 7-8PM

Cat Valley is a garage punk band out of Bellingham, WA. They are known for their rousing energy, intricate vocal harmonies, dueling reverb drenched lead guitars and scathing observations of a world gone mad.

Cat Valley first formed in 2016, after Whitney Flinn and Abby Hegge met by happenstance at a birthday house show. As they became fast friends, the two started writing songs and playing music together using borrowed equipment and a toy drum kit. Gradually, they discovered a knack for utilizing pop’s buoyancy and the raw grit of garage punk as mouthpieces for the progressive politics and boiling emotions they share. The band has since performed at venues and festivals all over the country, including Treefort Music Festival and Belltown Bloom, and released three records.

In 2021, they released Feral, a 7-song record laced with elements of 90’s alt-rock and soaring, surf-pop vocal harmonies. Their new EP, Bingo Queen, released September 15th, 2023, marks a new sonic stride for the band. The record digs into hardcore punk’s distorted guitars, bellowing vocals, and driving tempos, as it rages in the face of political oppression and explores themes of trauma, aging, and self-love.

Cat Valley strives to create a safe, inclusive and high energy live show that provides shared catharsis and fun for everyone involved.

Seattle trio Weep Wave opened the show and proved that, against great odds, hard rock still has some vitality in it. Left-handed guitarist and vocalist Dylan Fuentes looks and sings like a truck driver or auto mechanic, but his chops are torqued—stinging, slashing, and distorting incisively. He speak-sings in the declamatory manner of Protomartyr's Joe Casey, lending a cantankerous urgency to many of Weep Wave's songs.

They have ferocious, fast rockers, they have rumbling, midtempo rockers, and they have tender tunes with poignant, Sonic Youth-ian melodic contours. Fuentes also slips in surprising Eastern tonalities that highlight their psychedelic tendencies; the guitar part of one track (“The Void,” I think) reminded me of the Pastels' “Baby Honey,” another of the Clean's “Point That Thing Somewhere Else.” Those are great reference points for a group that scans as meat-and-potatoes rock—albeit high-quality meat-and-potatoes rock. The crowd duly loved them. It wouldn't be surprising to see a Sub Pop or Matador Records contract in Weep Wave's future. - Dave Segal (The Stranger)